A UND student pilot
walked away from a helicopter fire Wednesday at a practice training field
near 32nd Avenue South, west of Interstate 29.

Bradley Osterman, 22, of Blue Earth, Minn., was on a solo flight and escaped
the Schweitzer 300C helicopter as it caught fire. He was treated and
released from United Hospital.

Although the helicopter
was reduced to rubble, UND Aerospace officials say it did not crash, but
was destroyed by rare on ground vibrations known as ground resonance.

"It would be incorrect to
describe this incident as a crash. The helicopter was on the ground when
the vibrations started that led to the fire," said Rom DePue, UND chief helicopter instructor.

"We believe Brad did all that
could possibly be done once the problem occurred. We believe he assessed the
situation correctly and took the proper actions."

According to UND
Aerospace, the incident is caused by vibrations when a helicopter is near
or on the ground that can lead to structural damage and cause fire.

Aerospace spokesman Tim Burke
said Osterman just had landed when "a lot of vibration and shaking started,
apparently enough that parts broke and fuel came loose and the fire started. He
knew that there was a problem and got to before the fire got out of control."

The Federal Aviation
Administration has been called in to investigate the wreckage, a normal
procedure after an accident. The FAA will determine the fire's cause.

The accident happened around
11:30 a.m. at a landing strip called Sky Ranch Airport, used primarily to do
close-to-the-ground helicopter maneuvers away from the Grand Forks
airport, according to Burke.

Although fire-trucks were called
to the scene most of the fire already was out when crews got there, according to
Capt. Peter O'Neill.

When crews tried to return home,
one truck broke through the runway Tarmac and had to be helped out by a wrecker.

The Schweitzer 300C was one of
five helicopters UND owns. Older models of the Schweitzer 300C are
sometimes referred to as Hughes 300s. The accident Wednesday was the second time
a Schweitzer 300C was involved in a UND incident since fall.

UND helicopters
often are used to train Army ROTC cadets in the Air Battle Captain program,
including Osterman, a senior. Osterman is working on his commercial
helicopter certificate. He already has private pilot and helicopter
licenses, according to Burke.

Wednesday's accident not
UND'S first close call

Wednesday's accident at the
UND Sky Ranch was not the first close call for a UND helicopter
pilot in recent years and has led the ROTC commander on campus to call for safe
flight suits.

Army Maj. Michael Hlady said,
"He was flying in shorts and a T-shirt. That may be considered a standard
student flight uniform, but we're looking at better ways to protect the
military's money. One way is fireproof. Nomax suits. They're hot, but it's worth
saving a life."

"This is the third time one of
our students has had what you could call a close call. We've not had a fire the
other two times. We've had instances with leaky fuel tanks involved, though."

Ron DePue, UND chief
helicopter instructor, said he knew of only one case in which fuel had
leaked from a UND helicopter. It had rolled over last fall. He
acknowledged there's always the risk of a spark igniting a fire.

Before Wednesday's accident,
UND had ordered flame-retardant flight coveralls for its own helicopter
instructors and students who wish to wear them. UND insignia still have
to be sewn on, so the suits aren't in use yet, DePue said.

Regular military flight crews
wear flame-retardant Nomax suits.

UNDHELICOPTERS - AT A GLANCE

Fleet: Five copters at Center for Aerospace Sciences. Three are
piston-powered Schweitzers (counting the one that burned Wednesday), two are
larger turbine-powered copters, a Hughes 500E and Bell 206-L1 long ranger.

Staff: Eight instructors, full- and part-time.

Students: 12 currently enrolled, in three-year Army ROTC "Air Battle Captain"
program, projected to grow to 15 students per class. Nine students from Aramco,
a Middle Eastern oil company.